The following books are finalists for the 80th Annual California Book Awards. The winners will be announced the week of April 11th and will be celebrated in an Awards Ceremony on Thursday, June 2, 2011. Buy tickets today!

First Fiction:
Angie Chau, Quiet As They Come. Published by Ig Publishing
Tim Z. Hernandez, Breathing, In Dust. Published by Texas Tech University Press
Zachary Mason, The Lost Books of the Odyssey: A Novel. Published by Picador
Suzanne Rivecca, Death Is Not An Option: Stories. Published by W. W. Norton & Co.

Fiction:
Zoe Ferraris, City of Veils. Published by Little, Brown and Company
Joan Frank, In Envy Country: Stories. Published by University of Notre Dame Press
Eric Puchner, Model Home. Published by Scribner
Adrienne Sharp, The True Memoirs of Little K. Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel. Published by Coffee House Press

Children’s Books:
Cecil Castucci, Grandma’s Gloves. With illustrations by Julia Denos. Published by Candlewick
Beverly Gherman, Sparky: the Life and Art of Charles Schulz. Published by Chronicle Books
Rene Colato Lainez, From North to South/Del Norte Al Sur. With illustrations by Joe Cepeda
Barbara Kerley, The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy). With illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham. Published by Scholastic Press
Icy Smith, Half Spoon of Rice: A Survival Story of the Cambodian Genocide. With illustrations by Sopaul Nhem. Published by East West Discovery Press.

Young Adult:
Margarita Engle, The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba. Published by Henry Holt and Co.
Ron Koertge, Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs. Published by Candlewick
Dana Reinhardt, The Things a Brother Knows. Published by Wendy Lamb Books
Neal Shusterman, Bruiser. Published by HarperTeen

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The leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. Each year, we bring nearly 500 events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to more than 25,000 members and the public, both in-person and via an extensive online and on-air listenership and viewership.